Jordan Dreyer talks La Dispute 2019 Australian tour

La Dispute, the hardcore heroes from Grand Rapids MI, are gearing up to travel over to Australia in September 2019, in support of their latest record, Panorama. We sat down with Jordan Dreyer to talk all things touring. Tickets availablehere

Music Injection: How are you today?

Jordan Dreyer: Doing well! Thanks for asking.

MI: How do you expect the tour for Panorama to differ from the last tour for Good Things fest?

JD: Well, for one, we have a whole new pool of songs from which to pull, so it’ll be a bit different in that regard. But being able to play headlining shows in more cities will alter the vibe somewhat from the brief (but very fun and engaged) festival sets we played for Good Things. Festival shows are a lot of fun but there’s something about being in smaller rooms that adds considerably to the atmosphere. And the fact that we’ll be playing in more cities, some of them off the typical beaten path here for an American band on tour, will be awesome.

MI: How did the huge roster of dates on this upcoming tour come about?

JD: Good Things, like I said, was a lot of fun, and we were happy to be a part of it, but being limited to mostly festival stages and only a handful of cities on our first trip back to Australia in 5 years really reinforced to us that we needed to return and tour properly. For people in other cities, but also for us. For nearly the entire span of our band’s history we’ve had a special kinship with Australia (it was the first place outside of North America that we toured), and we really wanted to put that on display on our return here. Part of that was trying to play in some markets where bands from our side of the world don’t generally travel, and to try our hardest to give as many people as possible the opportunity to see us.

MI: Do you find that having songs and albums that are so personal and human help you engage live crowds?

JD: Yeah, I think so. Generally our songs deal in emotions related broadly to what are pretty basic human elements—love or loss or longing or whatever—so people all over and at different points in their lives connect to it. And we depend on it, in a sense. Live performance for us is deeply transactional. We enjoy playing together immensely, but what truly makes it special are the ways in which engagement from people enhances it.

MI: How have the Panorama songs been received live so far? Are you happy with the life they’ve taken on now that they’re out?

JD;The reception has been really good. There’s a certain added energy on our end playing new songs and the longer the record sits with people the more you see them singing along and the like. So, yeah, we’re happy. It’s an interesting process taking and releasing a song into the world and the process by which it becomes a living, breathing thing is deeply interesting.

MI: Have you seen a positive impact from your music in the fans who have been around the band over the years?

JD: We’ve been exceedingly fortunate in how much trust people put in us because of how they’ve connected to the music. Obviously, having done this for so long, there are very tangible things we’re proud of—the shows we’ve played, the records we’ve made—but the thing that I’ll always be most proud of is how many conversations and stories i’ve heard and had over the years from people who’ve taken something out of what we’ve done. It is the most humbling and remarkable thing.

MI: With Brad living in the best city in the world (Brisbane), do you expect to get a special reception when you get there?

JD: Haha. Well, Brad lives elsewhere in Queensland now, but it is sort of our unofficial hometown in Australia for that reason, and for the fact that when we first came over it was with a band called To The North from there, so it’s always been that way. Add that to the fact that we weren’t able to play a Brissy show on our last trip over and I do expect it to be one of the best of this tour. Certainly one we’re looking forward to the most. Lots of friends there and, yeah, it’s kind of for us home on Aussie soil.

Over the past decade LA DISPUTE has been responsible for some of the most uncompromising, experimental music and have carved a reputation as one of post-hardcore’s most singular voices.

From their 2008 debut (in their current formation) Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair, to 2011’s Wildlife, to 2015’s Rooms of the House, LA DISPUTE have continually pushed themselves to find new ways to portray some of the most difficult and universally affecting subject matters and have developed a sound that, while constantly evolving, is unmistakably theirs.

Their brand new album Panorama is perhaps LA DISPUTE’s most diverse so far, carried by their strength as musicians both individually and as a unit. It’s another chapter in a discography that tells everyday stories in a remarkable way and “Put simply, Panorama is another outstanding release from a truly special band.” – Kerrang

Announcing their first headline tour of Australia in over 5 years, LA DISPUTE will be playing a whopping 15 shows across Australia. The band go out of their way to make sure their shows are safe places where people can gather together, take care of each other while we listen to live music…it feels more like a privilege than ever.